Martha Lane Fox: the new Baroness of Soho is about to make the Lords foxy - Telegraph Technology News Martha Lane Fox: the new Baroness of Soho is about to make the Lords foxy As dotcom millionairess Martha Lane Fox becomes the youngest woman in the upper chamber, William Langley anticipates an outbreak of unprecedented liveliness Dotcom entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox's connection with Soho remains unclear Photo: SPRINGS By William Langley Comments Twelve years on from the bursting of the dotcom bubble, few names endure amid the fading memories of soaraway start‑ups and broom-cupboard billionaires. Martha Lane Fox was 25, blonde, and as foxy as her name suggests when she co-founded Lastminute.com, a website that sold discount flights and hotel bookings. The initial absence of profits and the boss’s near-total lack of business experience only made the venture seem more, well, authentic. In March 2000, at the height of the boom, the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of £571 million. During the first day’s hectic trading the shares rocketed 35 per cent.

Martha was a media sensation, a pretty face among a sea of nerds and suddenly one of the richest women in Britain. A few weeks later, however, the big slide began, and within a year the launch investors had lost 90 per cent of their money. Last week Ms Lane Fox, now 40, became Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho (the hyphen being a non-negotiable condition of House of Lords membership), and although an old hand in many respects, she found herself the youngest woman in the upper chamber. It is a different Martha today, of course. It usually is. She’s done virago, she’s done humble, she’s done opinionated. Now it’s time to do noble. It may be a particularly good time, too, for her current venture is a vital one and this time we all have a stake in its success. Since 2009 she has been serving as Britain’s “digital commissioner”, a job with an admittedly low glamour quotient, which essentially involves getting more people to use the internet. The dotcom crash can now be seen as a mere hiccup in the great onward march of technology.

Most advanced countries learnt the lessons and took the setback in their stride, but Britain developed a peculiar wariness of putting money into things that glowed and beeped, and partly as a result, we have no Apples, Googles or Samsungs. Ironically, though, we do still have a Lastminute.com. Related Articles Budget iPhone 5 'to launch soon' 01 Mar 2013 According to the new Lady Soho, Britain ranks a miserable 13th in the global digitalisation league, with 16 million people who barely use computers at all. The notion that we are all wired up to the ears and enslaved to our smartphones is pure delusion, she says. Millions of us can barely send an email or write a document on screen, and the consequence is that companies and consumers are far less efficient than they ought to be. Martha’s elevation to the peerage made a characteristic splash. A Twitter addict, she pre-empted the official announcement by breaking the news to her 50,000 followers. Nor were the missives that followed in the restrained tradition of the 1,000-year-old House.

“Get free cocktails and nipple tassels, right?” she tweeted to one user, telling another: “Don’t think it gets me a discount in Chinatown or late-night bar entry.” There was some tut-tutting over this irreverence, but at least Lady Soho was sounding cheerful. It is no secret that her life has been difficult since a serious car crash in Morocco nine years ago, when a 4x4 she was travelling in crashed into a tree. She suffered multiple fractures of the pelvis, neck and shoulders, and despite more than 20 operations and daily physiotherapy she still walks with a cane. In best corporate vixen style, she describes her immobility as a “logistical problem”, while accepting that she could not run a company again. “I don’t think it ever ends,” she says of the accident. “It’s a kind of balance between accepting the things in my body that have changed, and battling for things that can still get better. I’ll still have to have more operations in the future, but my life doesn’t fit around them.” There was, too, the realisation that a privileged upbringing and successful career are no protection against sudden mishap.

Martha was born in Oxford, the daughter of Old Etonian author and historian Robin Lane Fox, a world-renowned authority on Alexander the Great. Her mother, Louisa, is a niece of the Marquess of Anglesey, and her grandfather, James, founded the upmarket estate agency Lane Fox. She went to Westminster School and back to Oxford, where she read history and thought of becoming a prison governor. Instead, she joined a London management consultancy firm, where she met Brent Hoberman, a handsome, furiously energetic fellow Oxonian, from an even more privileged background. Lastminute was Brent’s idea, although he is generous in acknowledging Martha’s part in getting the project rolling. Together they were the poster children for the New Economy, and while lots of other people were also doing clever things in e-commerce, it was Brett and, particularly, Martha who got the coverage. With her polished vowels and refined air, Martha the “webutante” offered a refreshing refutation of the idea that everyone making money from the internet was a spiv with a Porsche and a flashy suit. When the crash came, however, no amount of good breeding shielded her from the fallout.

The dotcommers were the bankers of the early Noughties. Investors blamed them for peddling promises of impossible returns from operations that were often just nameplates on a wall. Lastminute was – and is – more than that, but it couldn’t escape the heat. “I was completely unprepared for the backlash,” Martha has said. “I got really vicious, hate email, really nasty stuff.” The company was eventually taken over in 2005 in a deal that netted her an estimated £13 million. She has lived for some years with Chris Gorrell Barnes, an unhyphenated TV producer and environmental campaigner, in Marylebone, London. Indeed, her connection with Soho isn’t entirely clear. Beyond doubt is that the Lords will be a livelier place when she takes her seat later this month. Especially if, at the last minute, she opts for ermine tassels. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Videos - Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Videos Read more... Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth is $500 Million.

Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho is Entrepreneur. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Date of Birth is 1973-02-10. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Place of Birth is Oxford.. Martha Lane Fox, Barones... Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth is $500 Million. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth is $500 Million. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho is Entrepreneur. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Date of Birth is 1973-02-10. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Place of Birth is Oxford. Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho,CBE is an English businesswoman, philanthropist, and public servant. She co-founded Lastminute.com in the dotcom boom of the early 2000s and has subsequently served on public service digital projects. She is a board member of Channel 4, mydeco.com, Marks & Spencer, and chairs the board of the digital skills charity, Go ON UK.

Lane Fox joined the House of Lords as a crossbencher on 26 March 2013, becoming its youngest female member. Born in Oxford, Lane Fox is the daughter of the academic and gardening writer Robin Lane Fox. She was educated at Oxford High School, Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where she read ancient and modern history. After university she showed interest in acting and prison governorship but joined the consulting firm Spectrum, involved in IT and media companies. Her first project was for British Telecom called "What is the Internet?". Here she met Brent Hoberman, a fell... Martha Lane Fox: Lastminute.com founder, 40, becomes youngest woman in the Lords as Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho | Daily Mail Online comments Martha Lane Fox is to become the youngest woman in the House of Lords, when she becomes Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho Web guru Martha Lane Fox's initiation into the House of Lords got off to a shaky start today, when she pre-empted announcing her official title and joked online that she would not be entitled to 'free nipple tassels'. Announcing her appointment as a crossbench peer, she vowed to ‘shake things up’ on the red benches.

But the co-founder of travel site Lastminute.com jumped the gun in announcing her title would be Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, as she also joked the peerage would secure ‘free cocktails and nipple tassels’. The 40-year-old told her 49,000 Twitter followers she could not wait to ‘get [her] robe on and get them moving’ as she joked about becoming the first member of the Lords to include Soho in their title. She told one user: ‘Don’t think it gets me a discount in Chinatown or late night bar entry but…’ But when another person told her it was a ‘cool title’ she responded: ‘Get free cocktails and nipple tassles right?' After MailOnline published the tweet, she deleted it, insisting it 'was joke to friend'.

She added: 'To take tweet not for everyone and use it trivialises v serious privilege I feel.' When journalist James Lyons pointed out a 'certain irony in web guru and HMG adviser complaining that they didn't think Tweets were public, she replied: 'Just was worried cos such a privilege don't want to make light of it as u can imagine.' In a bizarre twist, Lords rules mean she must add a hyphen to her surname, to change from Martha Lane Fox to officially take up the title of Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho when she is introduced in the Lords on March 26. Asked by one Twitter follower if she planned to ‘shake things up’ she replied: ‘Hell yeah’. Baroness Lane-Fox will be joined in the upper chamber by composer and BBC Radio 3 presenter Michael Berkeley, the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission said.

Mr Berkeley said: 'Naturally I feel very honoured to be appointed to the House of Lords and I am particularly pleased that the Appointments Commission was keen to increase representation in the field of music and the arts.' The new peer used Twitter to release a picture of the letter from the Lords authorities confirming her ennoblement Lane Fox co-founded Lastminute.com in 1998, selling it in 2005. She went on to set up the karaoke club chain Lucky Voice and Go On UK, a charity that aims to teach people about using the internet. She is also a non-executive director of Marks and Spencer and the Women's Prize for Fiction. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share In 2009 she was appointed the UK Government’s digital champion, and has worked closely with both the Labour and coalition governments. The youngest member of the Lords is Tory Big Society guru, who was born on 19 January 1977. Having turned 40 on February 10 this year, Baroness Lane Fox is almost a year younger than the previous youngest woman in the upper chamber, Baroness Berridge, who was born on 22 March 1972.

The newest member of the Lords joked about the potential perks of her new role Bombarded with messages of congratulation on Twitter, she joked that including Soho in her title did not secure perks in the infamous London district Only last week Lane Fox received a CBE for services to the UK digital economy and to charity at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The businesswoman suffered horrific injuries in a car crash in 2004, breaking her pelvis in six places and damaging her arms and legs. After receiving the honour, she said: 'Life’s so serendipitous. I’ve had unbelievable luck - my education, my family, all those fundamentals - and some less good luck - the accident and so on.' She added: 'I quite often think what a parallel life would have been like - a frustrated and terribly bad actress. 'I’ve always loved innovation. It’s less about the actual technology - I’m not good technically - but I love what it can enable.' Martha Lane-Fox - book as speaker - Speaker Agency londonspeakerbureau.de Print Speakerprofile Martha Lane-Fox co-founded lastminute.com, where she and her business partner, Brent Hoberman, came to epitomise the new breed of internet entrepreneurs in London.

In November 2003 Martha stood down as Managing Director of lastminute.com, remaining a non-executive director of the company. She is a non-executive director at Marks & Spencer, MyDeco.com, and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Martha is also member of the board of Channel4. She co-founded and chairs Lucky Voice, a private karaoke bar group, revolutionising the karaoke industry and in 2003 she took over the day-to-day running of business of Selfridges. In 2009, she was appointed the UK Government's Digital Inclusion Champion to head a two year campaign to make the British public more computer literate. By the beginning of 2011 the Race Online 2012 campaign had over 1000 partners pledging to reach almost 2 million adults. In 2010 her government role was expanded when it was announced that she would set up a new Digital Public Services Unit within the Cabinet Office. And in June 2010, the new Government asked Lane Fox to expand her role as UK Digital Champion advising how online public services delivery can help to provide better, and more efficient services as well as getting more people online.

She was invited to sit on Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Board. In November 2013 she resigned as UK Digital Champion. Martha remains a role model for entrepreneurs – not just in business, but also in her dealings in wider society. She is a trustee for Reprieve, a prison reform charity, patron of education pressure group CAMFED, and has set up her own charity, Antigone, a grant-making trust. Martha was made a CBE in the New Year Honours List 2013. In March 2013, she was appointed a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, becoming the youngest female member, taking the title Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho. Martha Lane Fox More in this category: « Annemarie van Gaal Allyson Stewart-Allen » Martha Lane Fox Internet Entrepreneur, Co-founder of lastminute.com Video Read More Enquire Now Martha Lane Fox co-founded Europe's largest travel and leisure website lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman in 1998, they took it public in 2000 and sold it in 2005.

Martha was appointed a crossbench peer in the House of Lords in March 2013. She is currently chair of Go On UK, a coalition of public and private sector partners that are helping millions more people and organisations online. In March 2014 she was appointed Chancellor of the Open University. Martha co- founded and chairs LuckyVoice, revolutionising the karaoke industry. She chairs MakieLab and Founders Forum for Good. She is a Non-Executive Director at Marks & Spencer and the Women's Prize for Fiction. In 2007 Martha founded her own charitable foundation Antigone.org.uk and also serves as a Patron of AbilityNet, Reprieve, Camfed and Just for Kids Law. In 2013 Martha was awarded a CBE. Entrepreneur; Retail English The following fees are a guideline only and are correct at time of publishing. For an accurate quote please contact us Fees Asia/Middle East :£15k to £30k Travels From UK Martha is currently a non-executive director at Marks & Spencer, MyDeco.com and the Women's Prize for Fiction.

She co-founded and chairs Lucky Voice, a private karaoke bar group, revolutionising the karaoke industry.In December 2003, it was revealed by The Sunday Telegraph that Lane Fox would join Galen Weston, owner of Selfridges, and take over the day-to-day running of the business. On 16 June 2009, she was appointed the UK Government's Digital Inclusion Champion to head a two year campaign to make the British public more computer literate. She has argued that "I don't think you can be a proper citizen of our society in the future if you are not engaged online." On 22 March 2010 her government role was expanded when it was announced that she would set up a new Digital Public Services Unit within the Cabinet Office. And in June 2010, the new Government asked Lane Fox to expand her role as UK Digital Champion advising how online public services delivery can help to provide better, and more efficient services as well as getting more people online. She was invited to sit on Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Board.

In July 2010 David Cameron hosted an event at 10 Downing Street to celebrate her Manifesto for a Networked Nation - a challenge for people and organisations in every sector and every corner of the country to work together to inspire, encourage and support as many new people as possible to get online by the end of the Olympic year. By the beginning of 2011 the Race Online 2012 campaign had over 1000 partners pledging to reach almost 2 million adults. Many of the lessons learned whilst building Lastminute have been applied to her latest venture, in particular the blending of online and offline to create a business of substance. Lastminute has just opened a standalone store in Manchester with other openings planned. She points out the company employed a similar strategy several years ago, and says: "no one can afford to ignore online and see how it is translated off line." Martha remains a role model for entrepreneurs – not just in business, but also in her dealings in wider society. She is a trustee for Reprieve, a prison reform charity, patron of education pressure group CAMFED, and has set up her own charity, Antigone, a grant-making trust.

Martha was made a CBE in the New Year Honours List 2013. In March 2013, she was appointed a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, becoming the youngest female member, taking the title Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho. Contact Us Martha Lane Fox: It's hard being me, living inside this 'weird, crippled body' - Telegraph Women's Life Martha Lane Fox: It's hard being me, living inside this 'weird, crippled body' Face Your Fears podcast: The dotcom millionaire talks frankly to Louisa Peacock about what it's like living with a disability - having to think to lift her feet every time she walks - 10 years on from a car accident that nearly killed her By Louisa Peacock , Deputy Women's Editor 1:40PM BST 20 Jun 2014 Comments Newsflash: Martha Lane Fox 's home is beautiful. What else would you expect from a dotcom millionaire who lives off a garden square in Mayfair, right? Except I haven't been in many millionaire's houses before.

A housekeeper answered the door, naturally, and asked me to wait in the dining room - a brightly coloured, tall-ceilinged, light and airy space, full of bright pinks, blues, yellows. Attention to detail was everywhere in the exquisite artwork, unusual, collectable chairs and uniquely printed cushions. This was a happy room. I imagined how much fun it would be to throw a dinner party in there. You could almost feel the buzz. Hear Martha Lane Fox's incredible story in this Face Your Fears podcast: The dining room led to a smaller room filled with books and a comfy-looking chair by the window that just screamed: 'this is where I sit in the evenings with a good book and a glass of wine'. Related Articles ‘Steal from Google’ and put online first 19 Oct 2012 And why shouldn't it be this way? The entrepreneur has certainly earned it. In 1998 she founded the travel website Lastminute.com, floating it at the peak of the dotcom bubble. She stepped down as the managing director in 2003, and the company was bought for £577m in 2005 by Sabre Holdings.

Lane Fox now chairs Go ON UK, a digital skills charity - a natural progression after taking on the role of the Government's digital champion for two years, and last year, aged just 40, she joined the House of Lords as a cross bench peer - the youngest woman ever in the upper chamber. Her beautiful home matches her beautiful success at work. And yet, behind the fairy-tale home, the gorgeous prints and unique artworks, Lane Fox has to face a very real health condition, that makes it a struggle for her to even walk, every single day of her life. In 2004, she was severely injured in a car accident in Morocco. The impact smashed her pelvis in six places, shattered her right arm and right leg, caused severe internal bleeding and led to her having a stroke. She broke 28 bones. She could have died. After being flown to England for treatment, she was only released from hospital after six months of gruelling operations. In total, she had 28 procedures done. To look at her today, you would easily think that she has fully recovered from the accident 10 years ago. When she walks into her dining room to greet me, I don't think anything of it.

Instead I start small-talking about how much I love her home, how convenient it is that she has an office upstairs. But I didn't appreciate, until she told me, quite how convenient that can be. "I think about myself living outside of my body. I have to think to move. It's not easy being inside me anymore, I'm used to it, but it's still hard," she says. "I can't run. I can't drive. If you bash your pelvis so entirely that it's smashed, think of all the functions in your pelvis, I can't feel my feet or legs." In an incredibly candid interview, she says: "I face massive physical challenges every day which can knock your confidence very quickly, if you're suddenly in a lot of pain or other things happen in your body - I've got this weird working life [where] I can't work full time in a job because of my weird crippled body, - that can take it away." "I don't find walking difficult but I find it exhausting, because I have to think, 'lift your foot, lift your foot'.

I'm actually quite physically strong, it's just I'm a bit dangerous because I can't balance very well and I have to think about it all the time - and that's just incredibly hard," she explains. Still, I'm struggling to connect the dots in my brain: she just walked into the dining room to meet me. If I hadn't have read about her accident, I wouldn't know anything was wrong. Would she have to think about walking to the kitchen from here? Martha Lane Fox "Yeah I'd think about that. I do have to think about lifting my feet. Imagine if you're living outside your body, so things don't happen very naturally. I have to think about the movement to make the movement happen in a much more conscious way." "It's quite a challenge. I fall over a lot, onto my knees, I walk with a stick outside," she adds. "I face massive physical challenges every day, something that's a constant and ever present factor of my life, that I have to manage." When I express my surprise to hear this - she appears 'normal' to me - she reacts modestly.

"Thank you, it doesn't feel like that in my head, so that's a very kind thing to say." Despite the everyday, often "boring", struggle, Lane Fox tells me she generally manages to keep a cheeful disposition and optimistic outlook on life. She does not come across as bitter or regretful - "when you're thrust into life and death survival everything gets recalibrated for you" - and accepts that she has 'down days' that involve going through a "whole spectrum of emotions in an hour". But on the whole, she doesn't let her condition "overcome" her. In fact, she's "lucky", she tells me, that she had the money to buy her the best medical attention in the world; getting her access to the treatment that most people simply could not afford. "I feel unbelievably lucky I have money - it's not very fashionable to say that is it? But we were lucky, we had sold Lastminute.com in the middle of the accident, and made a small amount - or large amount - of money from it. "Without that there's no question in my mind that I'd be dead or in a wheelchair, absolutely no question.

I had the resources to get out of Morocco in a way that other people might not have had. I was flown to a special altitude, had fast track care so that I could have operations that might have taken months on the NHS. I had care and help that other people might not have had." It is with this gratitude that Lane Fox organised a fundraising walk earlier this year, to mark the 10-year anniversary of her accident and say thank you to the dozens of people that helped get her out of hospital and continue to live. 'Martha's mad March ', as it was called, saw Lane Fox and 68 others who made a real impact with her in hospital walk 50 miles over five days, along Hadrian's Wall. "It's very hilly, who knew," jokes Lane Fox. "We live these privileged lives in London, not struggling for clothes or food - but there's something very basic and good about walking together. It was hard and fantastic." Hadrian's Wall: Hilly - who knew? She raised an astonishing £74,877.50 for three charities that support orthopaedic and neurological trauma; Abilitynet, Aspire and CES UK.

She smashed her target of £50,000. It strikes me that anything Lane Fox puts her mind to, she will do well at. She is currently on the boards of numerous high profile companies, including M&S and mydeco.com, where her digital expertise and experience is put to good use. She is passionate about finding a fix for the 11m adults in the UK that cannot do basic things online, two thirds of whom are women. "Women are more frightened of tech than men, it's unnecessary and avoidable," she says. Equally, in the House of Lords as a crossbench peer, she is keen to put her digital experience to good use. As the youngest female member, however, Lane Fox admits it can be "terrifying" standing up in the Chamber and speaking in debates. During her maiden speech last year, which she spent a "mammoth" amount of time on, she was a bundle of nerves. "I'd learned my speech, but worried, am I going to remember it?

I wasn't sure about the content, I kept thinking, 'why are you so nervous?' I give speeches all the time, one a week - but standing up in that place was much more frightening." Lane Fox said she practised the speech with her long-running partner Chris Gorell Barnes and her father and sent it to a couple of people for feedback. "It was terrifying, it was a full chamber, people had come to see me. I was just nervous - will I be able to stand up without wobbling about? - it was just plain old nerves," she giggles. "I still find the Lords intimidating. It's an incredibly intimidating place. No-one's been mean to me, it's just august, it feels serious, it's important to get it right." Intimidating? The entrepreneur also admits that she can lack confidence in board meetings, chairing groups of powerful CEOs. "I still feel quite young, compared to most, and am often the only woman in the room," she says, adding she doesn't enjoy it. "Because I had time out recovering from my accident, my experience is strange and patchy.

I don't have the build up of skills and experience [other corporate chiefs have], I face battles, physical ones." She worries that "what comes out of [my] mouth isn't clever or relevant". "It's very easy to underestimate how people who look confident and have jobs at the top of their game, still feel anxious and intimidated by what they have to do. As an example, I chair Go ON UK, which has eight CEOs on the board. I get intimidated, how am I going to manage these stray cats?" But she has a brilliantly simple tactic for dealing with inner insecurities. "I flick a switch in my brain, from not so confident to confident. I do it a lot. It's a visual switch off to on. I then just smile, and everything seems just easier." She advises anyone feeling nervous or lacking confidence in a meeting to introduce themselves to everyone present to avoid the feeling of being on the back foot. A good technique she's learned to handle meetings confidently is not to be afraid to ask the simple questions, such as how management feel about a particular issue, or what the plan B is. "Simple questions can be the most revealing," she says.

In the Lords, too, she has spent the past year networking - "having lots of cups of tea" - with Lords from across parties to get them on side. "You have to build your own networks, make friends with people, cross benches, friends on the left, right and middle. It involves lots of cups of tea - no magic. I'm building networks so hopefully when you need them in future you can ask for their support." Her practical way of going about any lack of confidence, or insecurity, she may be feeling is something she learned from her father. "My dad was bullish: he never made me feel 'like a girl'. There was no gender bias in our family; I could do anything in the world." When I ask what she means by being treated 'like a girl', Lane Fox responds: "Gender bias starts so early on. Girls are segwayed into princess parties - maybe they want to have outdoor climbing tree parties. That's a clunky distinction, but I fight this notion of pink versus blue. Even culturally, there are so many unconscious signs we give off between boys and girls.

I don't have kids, but it's hard to try and be neutral about choices." Lane Fox explains her dad was "tough" with her, academically and intellectually, prompting debates at home and teaching her to be confident. Confident It's a lesson she still learns from him today, even as a millionaire entrepreneur. "When I sent him a speech recently, he made me take out a whole load of the beginning - me being disarming about myself, saying things like, 'I'm not sure why I'm speaking about this'. He took all of that out, and said to be straight up with it. He would never let me be that unconfident person." It is something that has held Lane Fox in good stead when it comes to living with what happened to her. She admits there are days where she becomes "grumpy Martha" but she "hates" being like that and would much rather flick a switch in her brain - from off to on - that allows her to be an active, positive part of the world. "One of my biggest fears is not having a sense of purpose, and therefore not helping to make a small impact on things.

When you've been immensly lucky like me, and had an operation to change your life, make all this money, you want to contribute in lots of different ways." Perhaps this explains why Lane Fox - who could happily retire tomorrow - has her fingers in so many corporate pies still. She could easily give up work with the money she has made, but she has a deep desire to keep herself in the loop, pass her skills and knowledge on and help millions of people navigate the brave new tech world. "I know I'm irreplaceable," she clarifies. "But it's about making the most of the time you have, making sure you're deploying your talents in the best way you can." Still, I hope she finds enough time to take advantage of that comfy-looking armchair by the window in the dining room. For there are sometimes no greater moments in life, no greater ways of making the most of the time you have, than relaxing with a good book and a glass or two. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Age - Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Age Read more...

Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth is $500 Million. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho is Entrepreneur. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Date of Birth is 1973-02-10. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Place of Birth is Oxford.. Martha Lane Fox, Barones... Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth is $500 Million. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Net Worth is $500 Million. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho is Entrepreneur. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Date of Birth is 1973-02-10. Martha Lane Fox Baroness Lane Fox Soho Place of Birth is Oxford. Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho,CBE is an English businesswoman, philanthropist, and public servant. She co-founded Lastminute.com in the dotcom boom of the early 2000s and has subsequently served on public service digital projects.

She is a board member of Channel 4, mydeco.com, Marks & Spencer, and chairs the board of the digital skills charity, Go ON UK. Lane Fox joined the House of Lords as a crossbencher on 26 March 2013, becoming its youngest female member. Born in Oxford, Lane Fox is the daughter of the academic and gardening writer Robin Lane Fox. She was educated at Oxford High School, Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where she read ancient and modern history. After university she showed interest in acting and prison governorship but joined the consulting firm Spectrum, involved in IT and media companies. Her first project was for British Telecom called "What is the Internet?". Here she met Brent Hoberman, a fell... Who is Martha Lane Fox? | Startups.co.uk: Starting a business advice and business ideas Startups.co.uk: Starting a business advice and business ideas Business inspiration Who is Martha Lane Fox? Co-founder of lastminute.com, Lane Fox has hit the headlines for backing a campaign to stay in the EU.

Here are eight need-to-know facts about her by Megan Dunsby Tools: Compare supplier quotes to help you start a business Name: Baroness Martha Lane Fox CBE Businesses: Co-founder of travel company lastminute.com and karaoke brand Lucky Voice. Founder and chairman of digital skills charity Go ON UK. Why you should know about her: A dotcom pioneer having started lastminute.com in 1997 with fellow business mogul Brent Hoberman CBE which the duo later sold for £577m, Lane Fox is a hugely successful businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant. She sits on the board of some of the country’s most prominent brands, including Marks & Spencer and Channel 4, and has made significant contribution’s to the government’s digital agenda. One of the, if not the, most famous female entrepreneurs in the tech space, Lane Fox is a name that any budding business owner should be aware of. Not only is she hugely influential and inspirational but she also spearheads a number of initiatives to support start-ups and small businesses across the country. Action point: Need a loan to start a business of your own?

See how we can help here and here Here are eight quick facts to help you get to know her better… 1. She was the youngest female member of the House of Lords In March 2013, Lane Fox became a life peer in the House of Lords as a crossbencher (someone who is not party political); becoming its youngest female member at the time, aged 40. The appointment saw her gain the title of Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho in the City of Westminster. In her inaugural debate, she highlighted the lack of skills at the top of corporate, public and political life and called on demand for greater skills and understanding of digital in all parts of the UK economy. In the same year, Lane Fox was appointed Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her “services to the digital economy and charity”. 2. She is a champion of human rights, women’s rights and social justice Lane Fox advocates for a number of charities and social campaigns.

In 2007 she founded Antigone, a grant-making trust to support UK charities and she is a patron of Camdfed; a charity which fights poverty, HIV, and AIDS in rural Africa through the education of girls and young women. She also previously chaired the Women’s Prize for Fiction, alongside Cherie Blair and Joanne Trollope, until another sponsor (Bailey’s) was found. 3. She is pro-EU Lane Fox was among 50 leading female entrepreneurs and business women to sign an anti-Brexit letter this week urging Britons to opt to stay in the EU. Organised by Women IN, the letter highlighted the many benefits that staying in the EU has on trade, e-commerce, exporting and employment for the UK. On backing the campaign, Lane Fox said “leaving the EU would be a disaster for the next generation of Britain’s entrepreneurs”. She continued: “Being in Europe means we can trade without tariffs and there are a common set of regulations across 28 countries.

And as a mammoth market of 500 million consumers, we can negotiate free trade agreements with countries like the US, China and Australia.” Lane Fox was also one of 200 signatories that signed a letter opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to the September 2014 referendum. 4. She believes education and internet access should be available to everyone Lane Fox has been chancellor of the Open University since March 2014, and is an active supporter of them. At this month’s Ed Tech Forum in London, she stated that “the Open University is all about opening up new avenues to education, it’s about education for everyone”. This sentiment is evident in her role within the aptly-named new national organisation Doteveryone which has an ambition to ensure that all of Britain is “brilliant in the network age”. A former UK Digital Champion for goverment, Lane Fox has a integral focus on making the UK the world’s most digitally skilled nation. In April 2012, she launched digital skills charity Go ON UK which has a goal to ensure that every individual, small business and charity has the skills and confidence to benefit from new digital services. 5.

She is one of the 100 “most powerful” women in the UK Lane Fox is hugely influential in the business and enterprise space. Named one of Startups.co.uk’s top 10 UK female entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter with over 186,000 followers and counting, the serial entrepreneur is backed by an army of business owners, leaders, investors and government officials who believe in what she stands for. In 2013, BBC Radio 4 named her one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK and in 2015, Business Insider agreed and named her as one of the 20 most powerful people in technology today. 6. She has a talent for predicting start-up success While she sits on the board of established brands such as Marks & Spencers and Channel 4, Lane Fox has a keen eye for start-up companies and appears to always be one step ahead of the curve in knowing which start-ups will take off. In an interview with Growingbusiness.co.uk in 2010 , Lane Fox named then little-known online furniture business MADE.com as ‘one to watch’.

Fast forward six years and MADE has raised over $60m investment , opened a Soho showroom, and there’s now rumours that the company is set for a £100m IPO. 7. She has overcome personal trauma In 2004, Lane Fox was involved in a major car accident in Morocco and was then flown to England from treatment. She was severely injured with a smashed pelvis and internal bleeding, and suffered a stroke. She was discharged from hospital in December 2005 after having skin grafts, and internal metal supports inserted to keep her fractured bones in position. In an interview with the Daily Mail in June 2014, Lane Fox said she still faces “massive physical challenges every day, something that’s a constant and ever-present factor of my life that I have to manage.” 8. Enterprise runs in her family Entrepreneurialism must be in her family’s blood as Martha Lane Fox’s brother Henry has achieved similar business success to his sister. A co-founder of holiday website lastminute.com alongside Martha, Henry – dubbed the ‘ Silicon Sibling ‘ – has launched a number of ventures; from champagne bars to newspaper websites.

His current, and arguably most successful, venture is Founders Forum; the tech entrepreneur network founded by Brent Hoberman and Jonny Goodwin which Henry took over running in 2012. On his relationship with Martha, Henry has previously commented : “My sister has been a much more vocal force in the media, and one Lane Fox has been enough for people over the past 15 years — her success is a wonderful thing to see.” You can get the lowdown on other influential entrepreneurs in this series, such as:

Question: Which business woman and internet entrepreneur took the title Baroness of Soho in 2013?
Answer: Martha Lane Fox